Posts by cofty

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

Well belief in God and doctrines is faith - Looter

How are you defining faith?

Why do you think it is good to believe things on inadequate evidence?

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

You've misrepresented every single argument you've talked about

I could not agree more.

I really enjoy being challenged with thoughtful evidence-based arguments. I have often been made to think more carefully about things by others on this forum.

I can honestly say SBF that you have never given me a moment's pause ever. You only care about point-scoring.

I care about the substance of conversations like this one. I have no patience left for your nonsense.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

SBF - You're wrong.

The entire message of the NT is that Jesus came to make god known to humans, to show in word and action what it means that god is love.

Reality proves that Jesus - if he lived - was as deluded about god as anybody.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

Natural evil proves beyond all reasonable doubt that the god of Jesus does not exist.

Events such as the Asian tsunami are incompatible with other things that christians claim to know about god. All attempts to explain god's actions result in a story that is internally contradictory.

Your solution seems to be to dishonestly pretend that the contradiction is a divine mystery that actually supports belief. It is inane drivel.

It's on a par with your claim that "god does not exist therefore he exists", your claim that the perspective of worms is as valid regarding the shape of planet earth as that of an astronaut, and your belief that rocks are conscious.

You don't do rational debate, you indulge in mental masturbation.

It is unworthy of my time and attention.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

SBF the Straw Man Slayer strikes again.

My argument is not that suffering is incompatible with the existence of god. It is rather that events such as the Asian tsunami are incompatible with other things that christians claim to know about god. All attempts to explain god's actions result in a story that is internally contradictory.

Jesus claimed to have been sent to reveal the nature of his god and father. Not only does christianity claim that god is love, it defines the meaning of love, and explains the importance of love expressed as positive action in the interests of others.

I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. - Matt.5

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matt.6

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. - Luke 6

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. - Luke 12

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. - Jas.1

"Love ... always protects" - 1 Cor.13

The god of Jesus is also a god who is active in the world. Millions of christians demonstrate their belief in an immanent god every day. When they thank god for their food or pray for protection for a loved one or for a new job or help with any one of a million concerns they confirm that they worship a god who acts in the real world.

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

But you know is very easy to predict a tsunami and that region is very familiar with this natural problem. Why there was no warning about that tsunami? - John_Mann

If that is supposed to be an excuse for god then it is a pathetic one.

It is precisely the same as deliberately driving a fleet of trucks, at speed, into a crowd of people and complaining that they should have heard them coming and got out the way.

Your god has been murdering millions of humans with tsunamis for thousands of years. Long before detection was possible.

18

I want to understand violence

by Chook in

tell me your thoughts ?.

cofty

What is more remarkable is the massive decrease in violence in the west in recent centuries. Stephen Pinker discusses the evidence in his excellent book "The Better Angels of our Nature".

29

dealing with religion after leaving the witnesses

by joker in

i’ve noticed many people posting on this site seem to have completely given up on religion/spirituality.. but some have attended services at another religion, or just follow their own heart regarding what to believe.. my question is how does anyone deal after leaving with all of the witness crap that we believed about babylon the great, the great harlot, spiritual prostitute, etc., etc.

i’m finding out that i seem to have built myself a pretty solid wall regarding religion.. some people can just chuck all beliefs into one basket saying that they are all basically garbage,,, and that is ok, no problem i respect that.. but for myself there is a certain part of my personality that needs a spiritual belief not like the witnesses in any way, but something to meditate on, and contemplate.. being a witness taught me how bad it is to actually think of god in any other way besides what the jw’s believe.

and now when i attend any other service, the dark jw side seems to pop out and seriously makes me believe that everything i see/do/say is wrong.

cofty

TrueNoir would I be right in thinking you have never read a single book presenting the scientific evidence for evolution?

Here are 38 separate threads proving that evolution is a fact to get you started. Number 39 will be online any day now.

#1 Protein Functional Redundancy
Comparing the sequences of amino acids in ubiquitous proteins confirms the relationship between all living things.

#2 DNA Functional Redundancy
Comparison of the DNA that codes for the amino acids of ubiquitous proteins predicts the tree of life with an astonishing degree of accuracy.

#3 ERVs
Endogenous retroviruses that infected our ancestors are found in the same place of the genome of our closest primate cousins.

#4 Smelly Genes
Hundreds of broken genes that used to code for olfactory receptors in our ancestors are still found in our genome.

#5 Vitamin C
Why humans can no longer make their own vitamin C and what that tells us about our species' history.

#6 Human Chromosome 2
Our second biggest chromosome is made up of two of our ancestors' chromosomes stuck end-to-end.

#7 Human Egg Yolk Gene
Humans and our primate cousins have the genes for making vitellogenin and they are all broken in the same way.

#8 Jumping Genes
Bits of parasitic code called ALU elements prove our common ancestry with primates.

#9 Less Chewing More Thinking
A broken gene for a type of muscle fibre we no longer have tells a story about our evolutionary past.

#10 Non-Coding DNA
In common with many other species huge amounts of our genome originated as copying errors.

#11 Tiktaalik
An amazing fossil discovery illustrates the transition of life from sea to land.

#12 Lenski's E.coli Experiment
An experiment with E.Coli, now in it's third decade, demonstrates the power of natural selection.

#13 Morris Minor Bonnets
Evolution has to make do with building on existing designs as illustrated by the recurrent laryngeal nerve.

#14 Joey Goes to Oz
Fossil evidence for the origins of marsupials found in Antarctica exactly as predicted.

#15 Robinson Crusoe
The biogeography of oceanic islands presents an impossible dilemma for creationism.

#16 Aquatic Mammals
An excellent sequence of fossils illustrates the evolutionary journey of whales from land to sea.

#17 Belyaev's Silver Foxes
A 50 year breeding programme demonstrates the amazing power of selection and the interconnected nature of genes.

#18 Fish Fingers
The evolution of limbs is mapped out in an amazing sequence of ancient fish fossils.

#19 Goosebumps
A vestigial reflex bequeathed by our hairier ancestors.

#20 Lucy in the Sky...
An exceptional fossil of a 3 million year old hominid.

#21 Footprints in the Sand...
Footprints at Laetoli show our Australopithecus afarensis ancestors were bipedal 3.6 million years ago.

#22 The Hillocks of Hiss...
A vestigial feature if the human ear shared by 10% of the population demonstrates our evolutionary history.

#23 Faunal Succession...
The consistent sequence of fossils found in the rocks can only be explained by evolution.

#24 The Origin of Your Inner Ear...
How the bones that reptiles eat with became the bones that we hear with.

#25 Deep Time...
Scottish geologist Andrew Hutton discovered the proof of earth's great antiquity.

#26 Colour Vision...
How gene duplication - new "information" -and mutation equipped us with trichromatic vision.

#27 Monkeys, Typewriters, Shakespeare, 747s etc...
Evolution is a combination of random mutations and non-random selection.

#28 Something Darwin Didn't Say...
A long term study of pigeons demonstrates how natural selection acts on a local population.

#29 Use it or Lose it...
Fossil genes reveal the history of modern species.

#30 Your Third Eyelid...
The remnants of a nictitating membrane reveals our evolutionary history.

#31 Ten Questions For Creationists ...
The basic facts about reality covered so far pose an impossible challenge to creationism.

#32 Sexual Selection
How female mating preferences led to some of the most remarkable features of living things.

#33 A Tale About Tails
Human embryology reveals our primate history.

#34 Hiccups and Tadpoles
How hiccups are a relic of our amphibian ancestors.

#35 Nature Red in Tooth and Claw
Nature's ability to inflict pain and suffering in the battle for survival.

#36 Mass Extinctions
96% of life was wiped out in The Great Dying 250 million years ago.

#37 Testicles
The plumbing of the vas deferens gives evidence of our fish ancestry

#38 The Origin of Complex Cells
How a merger of simple cells made complexity possible

583

What is the purpose of life?

by slimboyfat in

while reading the magazines the other day it occurred to me that jws never really had a very good answer to that question.

because it was aimed at young people and it said something along the lines, "if you believe in god you have a purpose, but if you don't believe in god your life has no purpose or meaning".

i think that is a faulty analysis of the situation.

cofty

I think it may have been answered on cofty's thread "The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday" - Ucant

See here, here and here